Football

Yesterday, the doctor gave the junior quarterback the green light to surgically dismantle 15th-ranked MIAA A Conference rival Calvert Hall, 42-21, as No. 1 Gilman improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the league.

In the first half alone -- after which Gilman led, 35-7 -- Boyle was 5-for-8 passing for 178 yards and four touchdowns, and had three carries for 76 yards, including a 68-yard score. With the game tied at 7-7 early in the first period, Boyle engineered the scoring of 35 unanswered points, finishing 6-for-10 passing for 213 yards, and six carries for 101 yards before being removed for the fourth period.

Chisom Opara caught all three passes thrown his way for scores of 56, 25 and 34 yards, finishing with 116 yards, and Sina Ekundayo snagged a 48-yard touchdown catch. Boyle has 17 passing touchdowns and five rushing, while Opara has 29 receptions for 673 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Running back Damien Davis rushed for his eighth touchdown this season and has 721 rushing yards, and Andrew Faraone booted seven extra points.

Gilman's Brian Lewis picked up his seventh sack and ranks second to All-Metro teammate Felix Isuk (12), whose fumble recovery led to Gilman's third score and a 21-7 lead. Mike Faust added a pass breakup as part of a defense that has allowed only 35 points all season. Gilman's offense has scored 237.

Gilman threatens to become only the school's second unbeaten team since Redmond C.S. Finney's 1967 MSA B Conference champ went 9-0. Victories over St. Mary's and No. 8 McDonogh, respectively, would make this year's Greyhounds the first to go unbeaten for an A Conference title and win 10 games.

"Gilman football is about building men for others, not about 40-yard dashes, X's and O's, but about character," said second-year coach Biff Poggi. "Calvert Hall played hard, but I think we're one of the best teams in the country. These kids are impact players. We'll play anybody."

Calvert Hall (4-3, 0-2) -- ranked as high as No. 2 earlier this season -- was limited to 99 of its 319 total yards in the first half, but scored 14 fourth-period points against Gilman's reserves. Sean McGarvey (6-for-9, 90 yards) threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Mark Terry with 10: 06 to play, and Mike Dison scored from 16 yards out with 2: 14 left.

"They've got super athletes," said 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker-running back Greg Smoot, who has been offered a full scholarship to Penn State. "They were the better team today."

But it looked like it might be tight game after Smoot's 5-yard run finished a 13-play, 80-yard drive, and Chris Knoerlein's first of three extra-point kicks tied the game at 7 with 2: 28 left in the first period.

Then Boyle took over.

On his scoring run, Boyle raced 10 yards toward the Gilman sideline, saw three defenders waiting and angled back toward midfield. After eluding two tacklers, Boyle said he followed Richard Tuohey's pancake block and ran untouched into the end zone's far corner.